Mirai Moriyama (b. 1984, Kobe) is a Japanese dancer, actor, and interdisciplinary artist celebrated for his wide-ranging career across stage and screen. He began studying jazz, tap, classical ballet, and hip-hop at the age of five, building a versatility that has remained central to his artistic voice. His stage debut came in 1999 with Boys Time, and he quickly rose to prominence in Japan with a breakthrough film role in Crying Out Love in the Center of the World (2004), which earned him several national awards and established him as one of his generation’s leading actors. He has since appeared in major Japanese films and television dramas, while continuing to work internationally as a performer and collaborator.

Alongside his screen career, Moriyama has pursued an ambitious trajectory in contemporary dance. He collaborated with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on TeZukA (2011) and later PLUTO (2015), and worked with Damien Jalet on the sculptural and ritualistic Vessel (2016–2019). These projects allowed him to deepen his study of contemporary movement and the physical languages that connect Western choreographic practice with Japanese traditions. His own solo, Upload a New Mind to the Body, presented at ZKM in Germany, further explored these ideas by staging the body as both a physical and digital interface.

Moriyama also contributes to cultural life in his home city as co-director of the Artist in Residence Kobe (AiRK) program, initiated in 2022, which fosters exchange between Japanese and international artists.
In 2024, he made his debut with Alan Lucien Øyen’s winter guests in Still Life, a duet with Daniel Proietto that drew on butoh-inspired movement and elemental stagecraft. The work placed him at the center of a meditation on human fragility and resilience, extending his exploration of physical performance into a new collaboration that connects Japanese and European traditions of contemporary theatre.

Mirai Moriyama performs the winter guests production: Still Life (2024).

Alan Lucien Øyen

Artistic Director
+47 922 858 49
alan@winterguests.com

ORNELLA SALLUM

Network and Touring
‭+44 742 6921 254‬
ornella@winterguests.com

MARTIN FLACK

Managing Director
+47 934 594 70
martin@winterguests.com

Tora De Zwart Rørholt

Producer with syvmil.no
‭+47 416 343 64‬
tora@winterguests.com